In early 1914, several months before the beginning of World War I, the construction of a third series of eight destroyers based on Novik for the Black Sea Fleet was proposed by the Naval Ministry in response to a perceived strengthening of the Ottoman Navy.

[1] The Fidonisy-class ships were ultimately built as an improved version of the Derzky class with an additional 102-millimetre (4 in) gun.

Naval historian Siegfried Breyer considered the class to be the least successful of Novik's successors.

[2] The destroyers carried a maximum of 330 tonnes (320 long tons) of fuel oil although the ships varied widely in their endurance, ranging from 1,560 nautical miles (2,890 km; 1,800 mi) at 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) (Nezamozhnik) to 2,050 nmi (3,800 km; 2,360 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) (Zheleznyakov).

The 991 m/s (3,250 ft/s) muzzle velocity of the Hotchkiss gun gave its 2.22-kilogram (4.9 lb) shells a range of 8,520 m (9,320 yd) at an elevation of +21°.

[2] Only Fidonisy was completed in time to participate in combat, helping to sink some Turkish sailing ships in October 1917, before the navy ceased offensive operations against the Central Powers in response to the Bolshevik Decree on Peace in early November before a formal Armistice was signed the next month.